Finn: Conner Brothers Construction, Book 1 (CBC)

by Cee Bowerman

  “Tavin and Chess are next, Chess is the one with no facial hair, because he’s still a child.” Chess, the one with the clean face like Finn, rolled his eyes.

  “We’re the same age, dumbass.”

  “You’re the youngest. The little bitty baby Conner.”

  Chess looked at me and shook his head. “I’m three minutes younger than this asshole, but I’m the baby of the family. I think I was adopted.”

  Tavin nodded and pushed on his twin’s shoulder. “You were adopted. That’s why you’re so fucking ugly.”

  “I look just fucking like you, dipshit.” Chess rolled his eyes again and shook my hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Lena. I hear you’ll be our new office lady.”

  “I am. Now, if none of you shave your faces, or make any changes at all, I think I’ve got everyone straight.” I looked around at the table of men and then up to Finn with a smile. Finn pulled my chair out and I sat down. The brothers all sat back down around the table as soon as I was settled, and at least three different conversations started at once.

  Each one of the brothers was involved in more than one conversation, and I was so confused about what was going on around me that it amazed me they could all keep up. When the waitress walked up to the table, all the men went silent, waiting until she was finished with drink orders to speak again. Like a switch was flipped, conversation was back on again.

  “Are you having trouble keeping track?” Finn asked me, his mouth close to my ear.

  “Is it always like this?”

  “Always. And they’re being good today, everyone is getting along. When the fighting starts is when it gets really loud.”

  “They fight?”

  “Sometimes. Okay, more than sometimes. Shit. Yeah. I guess we fight a lot.” Finn shook his head, and I had to laugh at the expression on his face. “Nothing too horrible most of the time.”

  “So, are any of your brothers married?”

  “None of them. There have been a few long-time girlfriends among us, but none have stuck around.”

  “Have any of them tried dating a woman who is deaf? That might be a promising idea if they’re willing to branch out.”

  Finn snorted out a laugh, and I looked up and realized that all the other brothers were laughing too. They had been eavesdropping on our conversation, and apparently liked my idea.

  “That clinches it. I’m going to have to marry a deaf woman now. She’ll be the only one that can put up with all of us talking at once.” Chess smiled and reached over to pat me on the shoulder. “Find me a woman who’s deaf and I’ll learn sign language just for her.”

  I smiled at him, wondering if he was serious about the idea.

  “She’d have to be blind to get past that face of yours.” Tavin insulted his brother.

  “Fuck that. You’re the ugly one with all that hair on your face.” Chess replied and all the brothers except Finn jumped into the argument, explaining their prowess with women in comparison to their ease of growing facial hair.

  “So, yeah. We fight sometimes.” Finn leaned towards me as the other men kept arguing. He reached down and squeezed my knee under the table. “Think you can handle it?”

  “Do you supply the whip and the chair?”

  Finn laughed loudly at my question, and then turned to explain what I had asked to Royal and Ronan. I looked around the table at all the Conner brothers and watched their interactions with each other. I was so jealous. All my life I had wished for siblings to talk to and argue with. Someone who I could turn to when I needed help, or just a shoulder to cry on. I wondered if these men knew how lucky they were.

  ✽✽✽

  FINN

  “What did you think about the guys?” I asked Lena as we drove to Best Buy.

  “They’re hilarious. All they do is argue, but you can tell that all of you are the best of friends.”

  “We are, actually. We each have some friends outside the family, but we all stick together.”

  “I like that. I wish I had brothers and sisters.”

  “Yeah. I can’t imagine growing up alone.”

  “Which one of them is expecting a baby, or in your family it’s probably twins, right?”

  I looked out the window beside me, but I could tell by her reaction that she had seen my face fall.

  “My sister, Bellamy. She’s having twins.”

  “You have a sister too?”

  “I do. I did. I mean, yeah. I have a sister.”

  “I can tell this is not something you want to talk about, so I’ll shut up now.” Lena reached over and took my hand and pulled it over the console to hold in hers. “About the phone thing, I have one of my own already, you know.”

  “You can shut it off and we can transfer the number to the work phone if you want. That way, you’re on our plan and you don’t have to pay a bill.”

  “Oh. I could do that.”

  “We can cancel the ad about the office manager position and put one in for your two assistants tomorrow.”

  “About that. I have an idea for one of them, it’s a young girl I know. She’s almost finished with her degree, and has experience working in an office.”

  “If you trust her, hire her. If she’s anything like you, then we’ll be in luck.”

  “Just like that?”

  “Just like that.”

  “You know, I love my job.”

  I chuckled. “Tell me that again during the busy season when the phone is ringing off the wall and your desk is a foot high in paperwork.”

  “I’ll make it work. I’m just glad I’m not waitressing anymore. It helped me pass the time and pay the bills, but it’s not for me. I can’t be nice for long stretches of time. It pains me.”

  “Pains you?”

  “God yes. Have you ever had to look some asshole in the face and apologize when you know he is wrong? That’s the service industry in a nutshell.”

  “That would suck. I’ve only ever worked in construction. From the time each of us was ten years old, Dad had us on job sites. Picking up trash, sweeping, hauling stuff. Whatever we could do. Then, as we got older, we moved up to other things until we had learned all the areas of the company.”

  “Oh, wow.”

  “Yeah. Cheap labor.” I laughed for a second at the memory. “He used to tell Mom that all the time. Need another set, Lorna, there’s trash at the work site.”

  “That’s funny.”

  “What time are we going to dinner tonight?”

  “I don’t know. You’re the one planning this shindig.”

  “Let’s say seven. I’ll pick you up.”

  “I thought I got to drive my new truck.”

  “Okay, you pick me up then.”

  “Where do you live?”

  “At the office.”

  “You live inside the office?”

  “No. Behind it. Each of us chose a floor plan, or drew our own, and built our house from the foundation up. No employees helped, just family. We did one for each of us as we could, all out there on the land behind the office.”

  “Those houses behind the office belong to you?”

  “One of them does. The rest belong to my brothers and sisters.”

  I saw Lena’s eyebrows slam together when I mentioned more than one sister, but I didn’t want to talk about it today. I was having fun with her and I didn’t want to drown in sadness for just one day. I needed just one single day without feeling like my heart was going to jump out of my chest from the grief I was holding inside me.

  “You’ve worked construction before?”

  “In the offices, yes.”

  “Which company?”

  “Proctor & Sons. It’s down in Abilene.”

  “I’ve heard of them. They have an office here too. We bid against them on occasion.”

  “I never heard anyone mention your company when I was in Abilene.”

  “Yeah, we rarely work on the same types of jobs. I’ve never met anyone in that company in person, but they have a g
ood reputation. Not as good as ours, but it’ll do.” I grinned at her and she laughed out loud. “How did you get the job there?”

  “I was engaged to Julian. The owner’s son.” Lena looked mad all the sudden, and I wondered what can of worms I had just opened.

  “Did you lose your job when you broke up?”

  “No, I lost my job when I beaned him in the forehead with a stapler.”

  “Well, then.” I sat back in my seat wondering if my impression of her was wrong on all counts, or if there might be more of a story there. “Want to tell me why?”

  “He was fucking my best friend on top of my desk. I found them just minutes after I got off the phone with my Dad who told me he had terminal cancer. I went back to the office to get the support of my fiancé and my best friend, and instead saw his skinny white ass giving it to her like a jackhammer, and her screaming like a porn star. Which, I might add was a lie in and of itself. That man couldn’t rock the little man in the boat even if he had help from Aerosmith and Metallica.”

  I barked out a laugh and then put my hand over my mouth, realizing that this was a horrible event in her life, and she probably didn’t think it was funny at all.

  “It’s okay. You can laugh. I laugh every time I realize what he looked like when he was trying to have sex. It’s funny as hell.”

  I kept laughing and then stopped when I started to wonder what my ass looked like while I was having sex. Shit.

  “I got tested afterwards because I was afraid he had given me some disease or something. But, lucky for me, we hadn’t had sex in almost six months at the time when we broke up, and after I caught them fucking, I realized why.”

  “Because he was banging her instead?”

  “Yeah, and she wasn’t the type to share. Of course, I wasn’t either, but no one asked my opinion in the matter.”

  I pulled my lips in between my teeth and bit down, trying not to laugh at her sarcasm. When I finally got it together enough to speak, I told her, “I’ve never cheated on a woman in my life. Never will either.”

  “I swore I’d never get involved with another person I worked with.”

  “Does that mean you’re already going to quit on me, because you said you’d go out with me tonight.” I smiled at her when she glared at me. “We talked about this. Grownups, remember? If something happens and we end up not working out, we don’t let it affect the office, right?”

  “Right.”

  “So, I know now not to bang any secretaries on my desk besides you.”

  Lena barked out a laugh. “That’s what you got out of this conversation?”

  “Well, that and I need to set up a camera the first time I fuck you, because I want to know what my ass looks like when we’re going at it. I got a horrible visual when you described Dipshit Julian, and now I’m worried.”

  “You’re pretty sure this is going to happen, huh?”

  “Aren’t you?”

  “I have no idea what it is about you, Mr. Conner, but yeah, I’m pretty sure it’s going to happen.”

  ✽✽✽

  FINN

  “I can’t believe I let a woman pick me up for a date.” I grumbled as I helped Lena into her new truck. “It goes against every single thing my Dad taught me.”

  “Didn’t he teach you to make the woman you’re with happy?”

  “Well, yeah.”

  “And me driving us around town in my hot new truck makes me happy, so there you go.”

  “You’re a wily one. Are you sure you’re not really a lawyer?”

  “I’m positive. I have way too much integrity for that.”

  I shut the door and chuckled to myself as I walked around the truck to get in on the passenger side. Lena was a breath of fresh air, and I had enjoyed the entire day with her. It hit me then that my Mom would never get to meet her. On the other side of that grief, I was shocked that I was already thinking of Lena in terms of a lasting relationship.

  I would have to see how the next month or so went, and then tell her I was about to take in my niece and nephew and raise them as if they were my own.

  When I hopped up into the truck, Lena was staring intently at my face.

  “What happened? One second you were laughing, the next you were sad, and then you looked a little shocked. Have I met all your personalities yet? Are any of them dangerous?”

  I reached into my pocket and pretended to pull something out of it, then moved my hand toward her face and asked, “Does this rag smell like chloroform?”

  Lena laughed loudly, the sound deep and throaty like her sexy voice. I watched the column of her neck when she threw her head back and had to physically restrain myself from leaning over and licking her from her collar bone to her jaw. My dick was rock hard at the thought and I shifted in my seat to try and find a more comfortable position.

  “I’m ready for a steak. I didn’t eat my lunch because I was too busy trying to keep up with the fourteen different conversations that were happening all at once with you guys.”

  “You’ll get used to it.”

  “God, I hope so, or I’m just going to walk around confused for the rest of my life.”

  I smiled at the thought of being around her for the rest of her life. Somehow, that didn’t scare me nearly as much as it should.

  ✽✽✽

  Finn

  “Is this the part where I walk you to the door and try and sneak a kiss?” Lena asked me.

  “Yeah, according to my man card, I think it is.”

  “Well then, let me just do that.”

  “I’ll get the door for you.” I jumped out of the truck and hurried around to the driver side to help her out. I stood back and held the door as she used the step to get down out of the truck. She was still wearing those sexy boots of hers, but now they were paired with faded jeans and a loose purple shirt that exposed both of her shoulders. I wanted to nibble on her so bad, I could taste it. Hopefully when we got to my front door, I would get that chance. “After you, my lady.”

  Lena smiled softly at me and waited for me to shut the door before she reached out to take my hand. We walked together up to the porch, and she stopped at the top step and turned around to look at me. She giggled when she caught me staring at her ass.

  “This is the part where I kiss you, right?”

  “It is.” She was standing two steps up from me, which put her mouth a little bit above mine. She slowly reached out and cupped my face in her hands before she bent down and softly touched her lips to mine. I stood there patiently, trying hard not to step up and crush her in my arms as I drug her to my bed inside.

  Her lips fluttered over mine once, then again, before I felt her tongue come out and trace my bottom lip. I couldn’t take it anymore and had to step up and get control of this before I exploded.

  I pushed her back a few steps until she was in the middle of porch and then I tilted my head to ravish her mouth with mine, leaning her back over my arm with the strength of my kiss. Her hands moved from my face to my shoulders, and then her arms wrapped around my neck.

  She gave just as good as she got, her tongue exploring my mouth, warring with mine until both of us had to pull back and gasp for air. I held her there, her long hair almost touching the porch, and stared into her deep brown eyes.

  “What is it about you,” I softly kissed her mouth and then pulled her lower lip between mine and nipped it with my teeth before I softly kissed her again, “that makes me lose complete control?”

  “What is it about you that makes me want everything I swore I would never do again?”

  “I had a great day with you, Lena.”

  “This was the best date I’ve ever had in my life, Finn.”

  “Can we go out again together tomorrow night?”

  “Yes.”

  “Can I drive?”

  Lena laughed again, and I took the opportunity to lick her neck, from her collarbone all the way up to her jaw. As soon as my tongue touched her, her laugh turned into a groan, and I felt my dick g
et even harder if that was possible.

  “I think I’m going to like it when you drive. I think I’m going to like it a lot.”

  ✽✽✽

  Lena:Does this count as me calling you when I get home?

  Me: I suppose. I’d rather hear your voice though. What if this isn’t really you, but the hitchhiker you picked up on the way home who has you tied up in the back of the truck right now?

  Lena:You are one twisted individual, you know that?”

  Just as I finished reading the text message, my phone rang and I saw that it was Lena’s number calling me.

  “Yeah. This is Lena. Um, yeah, um I got home just fine.” Lena was trying to disguise her voice to sound like a psycho serial killer, but I just thought she sounded cute.

  “Okay, well then you have a good night. See you around.”

  “See you around?” Lena said loudly in her own voice.

  “Oh, Lena. It’s you.”

  “Smart ass. I got home safely, and I’m all locked up tight in my apartment.”

  “Then why is it so windy?”

  “Okay, technically, my apartment is all locked up, but I’m on the balcony looking at the stars.”

  “I’m on the patio looking at the stars.”

  “You’re so easy to talk to Finn. I had the greatest time with you today.”

  “I had a good time with you too, sweetheart.”

  “Have you ever had a day so good that you don’t want to go to sleep because you don’t want it to end. You might wake up tomorrow and realize it was a dream?”

  “Today was that kind of day.”

  “It was for me too.” Lena whispered. “I’ll see you in the morning, Finn.”

  “Bye, baby. Sleep well.”

  I shut the phone off, laid it on my chest and continued looking up at the stars. I wished with all my heart that Bellamy was here to talk to me, so I could ask her a million questions about what to do and how to act and she could grill me about ‘that woman’. Like she had grilled me about every woman I had ever expressed an interest in.